Technical Troubleshooting
Latency/Connectivity (Lagging) If you are experience issues with loading into the world map, unresponsive ships, blue screens, or being stuck in battle, the following steps will help decrease these issues from continuing: **Plug your Ethernet Cable directly into your modem **Make sure your connection, if wireless, is secure to block others outside of your network from using your bandwidth. **Limit the amount of excess applications in which you have running during gameplay such as: Skype, Ventrillo/Teamspeak, media players **Limit the amount of streaming in which You or Anyone else on your network have running during gameplay such as: YouTube, Spotify, Pandora, Netflix, Vimeo, Iheart Radio, Downloading via the internet. This also includes console game updates and downloads, such as Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii **Make sure that during your time playing any KIXEYE game that you do not have any of the following running: System updates, Anti-virus scans or updates, Patch downloads for games, Java updates If you do these steps and are still having issues with latency and connectivity to the internet there are a few tests in which you can run to help test your download speed and latency: **Check your Facebook Security Settings. Under Account, select Account Settings, then Security, and see if Secure Browsing is Enabled. You may wish to try disabling this to see if it helps. **A Ping Test will tell you what your current download speed is based off the server in which you are connecting to. You want this number to be relatively low: BandWidthPlace **Run a traceroute to the following routes. You can find instructions on the "How to Run a Traceroute" knowledge base article. ***Battle Pirates - bp-fb-vip.sjc2.kixeye.com ***War Commander - wc-fb-vip.sjc.kixeye.com ***Backyard Monsters - bm.lb6.fb.casualcollective.com **Traceroutes will track your Internet connection from your computer to us, and look for any hangups. If you notice any large numbers (200+ ms) at any of the stops, or if you don't get a number as a response (i.e. if you get just stars), then your loading issues could be caused by connection trouble. Contact your Internet Service Provider to see if they can assist you in resolving this. *Flash Support To help with optimal game play and reduction of flash based issues such as white screens and other issues, please follow the steps below: **Start by visiting this Adobe Flash page to view information on your computer's Flash Player. **Ensure you are only running one version of Flash. Click here to see how. **How to disable PepperFlash (Google Chromes default flash player) click here **If this issue persists, please try uninstalling and then reinstalling your Flash player. For more specific information in regards to your specific operating system please go to the following links. Windows / Mac **For assistance with Google Chrome specific issues go here. **Clear your Flash cache and increase the Local Storage available to Flash (see below for instructions) Flash Cache **#Click this link to Adobe Macromedia **#You will see the Settings Manager **#Click on the "Website Storage Settings" tab (it's the one with the Folder as an icon) **#Click "Delete all sites" and confirm **#Additionally, you should access the "Global Storage Settings" tab (it's the one with the folder and the world icon) **#Slide the bar to increase the amount of storage your flash player can utilize *System Requirements These are the minimum system requirements to ensure a quality play experience. If your system does not meet these requirements, you may encounter technical issues. Windows **3 GHz or faster processor **Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, patched and updated to the latest version **Google Chrome (recommended browser for best game experience), Mozilla Firefox 9.0 and above, Internet Explorer 8.0 and above, Safari 5.0 and above (web browser needs to have default settings and no add-ons or plug-ins installed) **1 GB of RAM **1 GB of free hard disk space **Latest version of Adobe Flash (find out your version and update on the flash player page) **1024 x 768 or larger screen resolution Mac **Core Duo 1.33 GHz or faster processor **Mac OS X 10.6 and above **Google Chrome (recommended browser for best game experience), Mozilla Firefox 9.0 and above, Safari 5.0 and above (web browser needs to have default settings and no add-ons or plug-ins installed) **1 GB of RAM **1 GB of free hard disk space **Latest version of Adobe Flash (find out your version and update on the flash player page) **1024 x 768 or larger screen resolution Network **Broadband Internet service (Cable, DSL, fiberoptic, etc.) **Any router or firewall used on the network should use default settings to ensure reliable connectivity. **For Battle Pirates, ports 80, 8080, 8000, 50000, 53, 443, and 843 should be able to communicate to remote servers answering on these ports. If your router or firewall is set to default settings, this should not be an issue, as these are common ports. If you experience difficulty with battles, you can go to Firewall Settings for instructions on how to open these ports. *Firewall settings Our games are currently some of the few games on Facebook with synchronous play, meaning that players can battle other players in real time. Because this feature requires a different type of connection than regular web traffic, even if you can load your base and view the world map, you may not be able to join battles. Anytime your computer connects to another computer, it uses an address and port. Battle Pirates connects to a "battle server" when fleet-to-fleet or base battles occur. If the addresses and/or ports that are required for this are blocked in some way, you will not be able to view battles. Windows Firewall Configuration Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 each have slightly different ways to configure the built-in Firewall, but they are fairly close. Instructions for configuring the Windows 7 Firewall to open the required ports are below. *#Click Start *#Click Control Panel *#Click System and Security *#Click Windows Firewall *#Click Advanced Setings *#Click Inbound Rules *#Under Actions, click New Rule *#Select the "Port" option and click Next *#In the "Specific Local Ports" box, type the following: 80, 8080, 8000, 50000, 53, 443, 843 *#Select "Allow the Connection" *#Select a Network type and click Next *#Name the rule *#Click Finish All the ports used by the Battle Pirates battle servers should now be open. As long as a connection can be established on any one of these ports, you will be able join battles. If Flash is able to make a connection on port 843, it will significantly speed up the connection progress. You may also wish to add the battle server IP addresses to your list of Trusted Sites within Internet Explorer. While we do connect over common ports, certain Firewalls might not recognize the type of data we are sending, and will block the connection unless the host is whitelisted. *#Click Tools *#Click Internet Options *#Click Security *#Click Trusted Sites *#Click Sites. *#Add the following IP address ranges (note: these may change in the future) *##64.74.130.43 through 64.74.130.45 *##64.74.130.200 through 64.74.130.223 *#(Optional) Check the Restricted Sites list and make sure that nothing relating to kixeye or casualcollective is shown; if it is, remove it from the list. Mac Firewall Configuration Mac OS X also has a built-in software firewall; to make sure that this firewall is properly configured to work with Battle Pirates, do the following: *#Click the Apple menu *#Click System Preferences *#Click Security & Privacy *#Click Firewall Options *#Make sure that "Block all incoming connections" and "Enable stealth mode" are not checked, and that your web browser is not set to Block Incoming Connections *#(Optional) Add your web browser to the list, and set it to Allow Incoming Connections Third Party Firewall/AV If you are using a third party firewall or antivirus application, you should consult the publisher's website for instructions on how to whitelist, add to an exceptions list, or add an address as a trusted site. Below are links to some of the more common programs, as well as a typical "path" to locate the whitelisting within the application. However, because each version of a program may have a different menu structure, your particular program may vary. http://us.norton.com/support/ Options - Internet Security - Personal Firewall - Trust Control - Trusted - Add http://service.mcafee.com/default.aspx Firewall - Definitions - Addresses - Create Range http://www.avast.com/en-us/support Firewall - Firewall Settings - Expert Settings - Friends http://www.avg.com/us-en/support Tools - Firewall Settings - Profiles - Firewall Profile - IP Addresses Whitelist Routers If you are using a router, before you try the following you should first try connecting your modem directly to your computer. You should also try using an Ethernet cable instead of wireless, as wireless connections can cause issues, as well as rebooting or "power-cycling" all of your computer hardware, including computer, router, and modem. Because there are many different brands of router, it's not possible to provide specific instructions for each one here. The following website may be of assistance here: http://www.portforward.com/ Website Utilities The following websites will allow you to check various ports on your computer to see if they are accessible. http://www.canyouseeme.org/ http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/ *How to Clear Your Browser and Flash Cache If you are having trouble loading the game you may need to clear your Browser and Flash Cache. Have a look at this video for instructions to clear your Browser cache. Flash Cache *#Click this link to Adobe Macromedia *#You will see the Settings Manager *#Click on the "Website Storage Settings" tab (it's the one with the Folder as an icon) *#Click "Delete all sites" and confirm *#Additionally, you should access the "Global Storage Settings" tab (it's the one with the folder and the world icon) *#Slide the bar to increase the amount of storage your flash player can utilize *How to run a Traceroute What is a Traceroute? A traceroute is a utility that records the route between your computer and our KIXEYE game servers. Traceroutes will tell you how many routers your packets travel through, and how long it takes for them to travel between routers. Windows Select Start → Programs → Accessories → Command Prompt Enter the word tracert, followed by a space, then one of these domains based on the game you play **Battle Pirates - bp-fb-vip.sjc2.kixeye.com **War Commander - wc-fb-vip.sjc.kixeye.com **Backyard Monsters - bm.lb6.fb.casualcollective.com What do these numbers indicate? Each number is test (the program runs each 3 times) and represents how many milliseconds it took the connection to respond. Check for times between hops that are greater than 100 ms **Low numbers are better **100 ms can be indicative of lag or some latency **300 ms+ in connection can indicate a severe problem in gameplay *** which indicate that your request has timed out and mean that some packets could be dropped from your connection to ours and could also directly influence gameplay Mac Begin by going through Applications → Utilities → Network Utility 1. Click on the "Traceroute" tab 2. Enter the correct address for the game you play: **Battle Pirates - bp-fb-vip.sjc2.kixeye.com **War Commander - wc-fb-lb1.sjc.kixeye.com **Backyard Monsters - bm.lb6.fb.casualcollective.com 3. Run the Trace 4. Look at the numbers underlined. What do these numbers indicate? Each number is test (the program runs each 3 times) and represents how many milliseconds it took the connection to respond Check for times between hops that are greater than 100 ms **Low numbers are better **100 ms can be indicative of lag or some latency **300 ms+ in connection can indicate a severe problem in gameplay *** which indicate that your request has timed out and mean that some packets could be dropped from your connection to ours and could also directly influence gameplay What do I do now? If you have had problems with latency or connectivity in one of our games and have completed a traceroute, you may send a screenshot of your results and an agent can help you look through your numbers. If you see several high numbers and asterisks you may need to call you Internet Service Provider. They can use this information to help diagnose if there is a problem on their end or if there might be a better internet option for you gaming needs. Category:Support